Thorny Romance (First FanFic)
by AlekAlyss
Summary: A Glaceon, tired of her life where she must be the perfect child, decides to take a risk and talk to the strange Pokemon she's noticed watching her for the past week.
1. Chapter 1 : New Friend

This is my first FanFiction. Hopefully you will enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 1 : New Friend

* * *

"Jolt, get ready to head out!" Jolteon hears her mother call. "We'll need those fish in an hour or two, you're cutting it thin, honey!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the irked Glaceon responds, hiding her frustration. "I'll go now!"

She had never quite gotten over the sick joke her parents pulled by naming her Jolteon, but regardless, she had to act as though it didn't bother her. After all, she was the 'Golden Child' of the family. If she didn't always act prim and proper, she would never hear the end of it from her father. After all, he was the pushy one of the two parents.

Before leaving her room, she checks herself in the mirror. Her appearance didn't tend to differ much, day-to-day, but it was always safe to make sure before she entered a situation where she might be spotted in public.

As usual, her one diamond-shaped blue tendril hung from her hat-like bangs. An unfortunate accident with a rogue flame from her brother caused her to lose one, but she'd since adapted to the loss. Her fur appeared to be just as smooth as usual, with no difficult ruffles or protrusions being spotted. Just to make sure, she blows frost over her body to ensure no non-existent blemishes were seen.

For once, she laments about her size. Being seven inches shorter than most Pokemon her species leaves her vulnerable, although it also has made her more adorable in the eyes of most. But at the moment, she wishes she had that extra height.

Because today, she was going to break away from the norm, and talk to someone new. A male, nonetheless! She loved to imagine the look on her parent's faces if they ever learned she had something like a secret relationship. Of course, the chance of something like that happening was very little. At most, they might hit it off. The issue was that he towered over her.

She shakes her head, pushing the issue out of her mind while simultaneously accidentally hitting herself in the face with her one tendril. Sighing, she psychs herself up.

"JOLTEON!"

She jumps. "Oh, coming!" she replies hurriedly, then rushes out into the living room.

Her mother, a rather small Espeon, was waiting for her there. She was who Jolteon tended to blame for her stature.

"You going now?" she asks with an impatient tone.

She nods wordlessly, and rushes out the door, towards the lake.

"Jolt!" her mother hurriedly shouts.

Jolteon skids to a stop, and turns around. "Yes?" she calls back, already lightly panting.

"You forgot the bucket!"

Sure enough, floating in front of the door was the bucket Jolteon had forgotten to grab before exiting the building.

Mumbling her apologies, she walks normally back to the front door, grabs the handle in her jaws, and begins running once again. While she never particularly felt she had the strength to carry the bucket in this manner, it was certainly the fastest, and she wanted as much speed as possible for this trip.

After about a half an hour, she finds herself in front of the cave. Dropping the bucket, she falls onto her haunches and takes a minute to breathe, throwing her head back in exhaustion. She can feel her bangs fall upwards, but she doesn't feel like fixing it at the moment.

Rather out of nowhere, she feels the ground shake lightly beneath her. Looking towards the entrance of the cave, she sees exactly who she was looking for.

Druddigon.

While they'd never actually spoken, or even interacted, for the last week she'd noticed him watching her intently any time she passed by. Normally, this would creep her out. However, she had been feeling particularly bold in the last week, coincidentally.

Even seeing him, she doesn't get up yet, still wanting to take longer to regain her breath.

"The moment… I recover… I'm talking to you!" she mutters to herself, psyching herself up further.

She closes her eyes, focusing entirely on breathing, when she feels the ground beneath her shake once again. Opening her eyes, she sees the Druddigon walking towards her.

'Nooooo!' she cries out internally. 'I was supposed to be the initiator!'

Finally up close, Jolteon can finally make out some more of the features on this Pokemon. It seemed rather normal for its species, with an extremely jagged blue body lined with red spikes: Three on each arm, one on each shoulder, and four lining its back. However, it seemed to be missing part of its right wing, and its already red head was slightly marred by a darker scar. It ran across his left eye, causing it to be permanently shut.

"Are you alright?" he asks with a rumbling voice that shakes Jolteon to her core.

She simply continued panting, unable to answer, and loathing the fact that she wasn't the first one to speak.

"I'd carry you to a shaded area, but I doubt that matters to you," he continues on. "For now, I'll just make sure that nothing but me pops out at you." His face morphs into something that appears as though it could be a smile, but Jolteon has a difficult time telling.

"I'm…" she pants out.

Druddigon lowers himself down to her level. "Yes?"

"I'm… alright…"

The Druddigon nods. "I'll wait, then."

A minute later, Jolteon finally regains enough breath to climb to her feet.

She tries to take control of the situation, although she failed the first step of starting the conversation in the first place. "My name is Jolteon," she sighs, then takes a deep breath. "And you are?"

The smile creeps back onto his face. "Your name is Jolteon?"

She blushes slightly, somehow not having foreseen this development. "W-Well, yes, b-but…" She trails off, then comes back with a slightly louder tone. "I didn't choose my name, okay? It's a sore subject."

The Druddigon chuckles, a sound best described as having a small earthquake beneath your feet. "The name's Butch, and I'm sorry about whatever history ended you up with a name like that," he growls kindly.

Jolteon immediately feels internal relief, having passed her first mental test of exchanging names. She takes a breath to ask a question, only to be cut off by Butch.

"I've seen ya walk down this path pretty often," he points out. "Whaddya do?"

"W-What do I do?" she asks, trying to make sure she got it right. She receives no response, so she decides to continue. "I come down here to retrieve fish for my family, that's kind of my job."

Butch cocks his head slightly. "Wouldn't it make more sense for a Vaporeon or Jolteon to do that?"

Jolteon nods, smiling sadly with her eyes closed. "My parents chose the wrong stone to evolve me with. I was supposed to be a Jolteon, thus the name," she responds, sighing.

"Rough," he sighs. He smiles at his own pun for a moment, leaving Jolteon slightly confused, before asking, "I might look like a walking boulder, but I'm actually pretty good at fishing. Want me to help?"

Jolteon sighs, eliciting a questioning sound from Butch. She didn't expect him to be the one taking the lead, but in the end, she supposes that it's the same outcome.

Smiling, she looks back to Butch. "I would greatly appreciate that."

Butch takes a few seconds to get to his feet before responding. "You speak pretty fancy," he notes. "You come from a good family?"

She nods, picking up the bucket and beginning to walk towards the lake. Butch follows. "Yes, my family is rather well-off," she responds. "My father runs a business selling Evolution Stones."

"Makes sense," he chuckles.

Eventually, they reach the pond. She sets the bucket down near the water, then begins watching the current intently. She decides that if she can't impress him with her ability to speak or react, she'll impress him with her fishing prowess.

Seeing a fish come into her strike zone, she prepares to spear it with an icicle. She takes a deep breath, a small amount of frost building in front of her mouth. Slowly, it gains form, becoming an icicle about four inches long and needle thin. She breathes out suddenly, and—

 _SNATCH!_

'What?' she thinks to herself. The fish was gone. She looks around, and eventually realizes that Butch's clawed hand was closed around something, and wet. Nonchalantly, he opens his hand over the bucket next to her, and the very same fish she'd had her eyes on falls in.

She looks between the fish and Butch, amazement evident on her face. "How… did you do that?" she mumbles, as though she was talking to herself.

Butch shrugs. "When I feel hot, I move fast," he explains, grinning with a rather terrifying face.

Jolteon looks at it in silent horror for a moment, then starts laughing. Butch drops the grin, a bit confused.

"W-What?" he asks, low voice contrasting with how flustered he is. "Too bold?"

She starts calming down, wiping her eyes. "No, it's just funny because for one thing, no offense, but you are _terrifying_ ," she snickers, still trying to calm herself down.

She fails, laughing full-force once again.

"You aren't wrong," he sighs. He continues to watch, unamused, as she laughs. "And the other thing?"

"Well," she pauses, taking a deep breath, "it's not hot at all! It's cool outside!"

"Oh, that?" Butch pauses for a moment, considering whether or not to let her in on his little innuendo. He makes his decision. "I meant that being next to you makes me feel hot."

"I'm not a Flareon, silly!" she sighs, getting more comfortable around him. "I'm a _Glaceon_ , I'm the 'Fresh Snow Pokemon'."

"I'm aware," Butch responds, nodding.

'How can one girl be so dense?' he thinks to himself.

Quite suddenly, she realizes what he means. "W-Well, let's get back to fishing!" she stutters, trying to change the subject as she blushes.

Butch sighs, deciding that he can repeat that topic in the future.

The next forty-five minutes are spent fishing, with Butch catching a lot of the fish, and Jolteon continually being amazed at his speed. In the end, about twenty total fish are caught between them, with Butch having caught twelve of them.

"Wow," Jolteon breathes. "You really _are_ good at fishing."

Butch nods proudly, standing straight. "I told you I was!" he declares, voice more chipper than when they first began talking.

Jolteon giggles. "Do you mind if I ask you for your assistance once again tomorrow?" she asks, smiling cheerfully.

"Go right ahead!" he encourages. "I had fun."

Jolteon picks up the bucket in her jaw and stumbles slightly from the weight. Quickly, Butch reaches out and braces her against his large hand.

"Are you alright?" he asks, worried.

Jolteon blushes profusely, but keeps it hidden by emitting a slight amount of fog. "Y-Yes, I'm fine, thank you."

She hurriedly starts walking away, embarrassed.

"Come back tomorrow!" Butch calls. "I'll be waitin'!"

Jolteon doesn't respond, but smiles internally, happy that this 'date' went exactly as well as she'd hoped it would.


	2. Chapter 2 : Strange Absence?

Jolteon awakens the next day, exhausted. She was hardly able to get any sleep the night before, buzzing with excitement at the prospect of seeing Butch again. She didn't believe herself to be in love with him, since she'd known him so briefly, but she definitely could feel herself developing some sort of feelings for him.

Despite her tired state, she leaps out of bed to go check herself in the mirror again, glancing out her bedroom window on the way. The crack of dawn is just barely showing over the horizon, sending faint beams of light against her walls.

Turning to her mirror, she finds that she's… a bit of a mess. Half of the fur on her back looks as though it's been brushed backward, sticking straight up. Groaning, she walks out of her bedroom and turns left, walking down the hallway into the kitchen. It would seem that no one other than her is up, ruining her current plans of asking her mom to help smooth her fur using her telekinetic energy.

She turns a full circle, too tired to remember where the exit to the living room is, then walks through. As expected, she finds her brother sitting on the floor, half asleep.

"Flare, I know I've asked you this again and again, but why is it that you always sit in that spot as soon as you wake up?" Jolteon asks drowsily, finishing her question with a yawn.

His head seems to react faster than his brain, slowly turning to face her. "H-Hm?" He yawns, letting out a breath of hot air. "Oh, I don't know, a force of habit I guess."

Jolteon walks in front of her brother, and sits down with her back facing him. "Could you smooth out my fur?" she requests tiredly.

She doesn't hear any kind of confirmation from Flare, but feels his hot paws press against her back moments later, smoothing downward.

"Going somewhere?" he asks slowly, shaking his head to try and rid himself of the grogginess.

She nods, eyes closed, enjoying the mini massage she was receiving.

"Is it a boy?" he asks quietly, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

Jolteon doesn't respond other than tiredly turning her head towards Flare, eyes still closed, and smiling.

"Ooooo!" he exclaims quietly, all signs of being tired gone. He doubles his efforts, actually pinpointing tufts of fur and smoothing them down now. "You'll need to give me all the details when you return! In private of course," he hurriedly adds.

"I will, I will," she assures him quietly.

She had long forgiven her brother for destroying one of her dangles, knowing that it was fully an accident and not any form of malice. Even so, the poor Flareon felt that every day must be some kind of repentance for what he'd done years prior, and Jolteon allowed herself to play along for his sake. He was good at hiding it, but she knew that it kept him up at night.

After a few minutes pass, she looks at Flare once again. "Done?"

He places his paws back on the ground. "Done!"

"Thank you, Flare," she grunts, getting to her feet and stretching.

"No problem, Jolt," he replies, smiling. He moves into a stray chair after the statement, apparently having decided that he'd spent enough time on the floor.

Jolteon runs quietly back to her room and checks herself in the mirror, making sure that everything looks good before leaving the house.

Perfect. No stray hairs, all the tufts flattened down.

Smiling, she jogs out of her room to the front door.

Before she can exit the door, Flare pulls her to the side. "Don't forget what season it is," he warns. "Be on the lookout for any males that are acting strange, and don't hesitate to hurt them if they go after you."

Jolteon nods, mostly ignoring him. She's been through mating season for many years, and each time, nothing bad happens. At this point, she simply assumes that male Pokemon getting wild in this season is a myth, since she's never actually seen it before.

Waving goodbye, she bounds out of the house and towards the cave. This time though, she takes her time, knowing how exhausted she was last time after running the distance.

An hour later, she finds herself in front of Butch's cave once again. Strangely though, he isn't standing outside as he normally is. She reasons with herself that perhaps it's just too early, but she knows for a fact that she'd seen him get up earlier.

"Butch?" she calls into the cave. No response.

'Time to be brave!' she thinks to herself.

Cautiously, she steps inside. It seems to be a strangely neat cave, with the only stray boulder being a large one to her right, about two yards ahead. She walks up to it, hoping it can provide some clues as to where he might be.

"Oh!" she exclaims. The lack of light had prevented her from making out colors, but that wasn't a boulder, it literally was Butch.

She smiles and taps his shoulder. "Wake up! It's pretty late to be asleep, wouldn't you agree?" she calls jokingly.

Slowly, the boulder unfurls itself and looks towards her. At first, Jolteon is elated that she'll be the thing he wakes up to!

Then she sees his eyes.

His eyes possess zero intelligence, almost seeming to look past her. He breathes heavily, his hands clenching and unclenching.

' _Mating season_ ,' she mutters under her breath, taking a single step away.

Not quickly enough, however. The feral Druddigon explodes from his position, and


End file.
